


Almost is Silver

by likestoimagine



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, like 99.98 percent likely to become AU after season four but whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 15:31:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7111843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likestoimagine/pseuds/likestoimagine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby doesn’t actually know how to broach the topic of ‘mystical fairytale silver-eyed warrior powers’ with the rest of her makeshift team, which means it's a good thing that it comes up on its own. Probably.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Almost is Silver

Ruby doesn’t actually tell any of her friends about her supposed powers, because most of the time she doesn’t even believe in them. 

 

Uncle Qrow says that she’s special, just like her mother. She doesn’t feel it when she meditates long into the night, trying to find even the tiniest spark of power because she can’t sleep when Weiss is trapped in a palace of ice and Blake is lost to the shadows and Yang is a bank of coals barely flickering. 

 

There are nights when Nora paces around the campsite keeping watch, when Ruby tries to feel out the curves shaping love in her heart, the passion burning like fire for her friends and the despair when she realized she was too late. 

 

There are nights when Ren takes her place, alertness masked by a serene face, when Ruby wracks her brain for the feel of that single moment, the deceptive calm before realization struck and time froze and the world was made white. 

 

There are nights when Jaune muffles tears with his sleeve even as his aura flares out to guard them, when Ruby feels a prickle in her eyes just like that night, except it spills over as clear water instead of glowing silver.

 

In the end, she feels like nothing more than just normal-knees Ruby, who dreamt of being a hero without realizing how painful that journey would become. 

 

Ruby hasn’t told any of the others about her silver eyes. She can’t really, when she doesn’t even believe in it sometimes, but also… when she thinks about frozen dragons on top of the school and the world going white, she remembers a small, hiccuping gasp. She remembers a black arrow and the color of flame-light drifting in the wind, the hollow clang of a sooty bronze circlet hitting ruins. 

 

She remembers, and it’s too much broken glass in her heart, too many obsidian shards for her to dig out, even (or maybe especially) to lay them out for Pyrrha’s team.

 

So, Ruby doesn’t really tell her friends anything. They end up finding out anyways.

 

oOoOo

 

The thing about traveling the desolate countryside as a band of mourning friends filled with grim determination is that, well… there are a lot of Grimm. It’s not exactly as bad as, say, Torchwick’s burning hatred and bitterness signaling dinner to a Griffin, but Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, they’re all sleep-deprived teenagers trying to manage the hole in their hearts where their precious friend is supposed to be, and they’re typically the only living humans within any given ten mile radius.

 

They get attacked a lot. And, even though they’re all trained warriors who've lived the past year learning how to deal with pretty much these exact situations, they’re also human. Ruby’s not always fast enough, Ren’s not always skilled enough, Nora’s not always fierce enough, and Jaune…

 

He has tons of potential, but it’s just that. _Potential_. For all that he’s put his heart and soul into training, for all that he’s grown by leaps and bounds, the balance of potential verses skill for one Jaune Arc is still heavily weighted towards the untrained end of the spectrum - a good investment, to be sure, but not always particularly useful for the immediate situation.  

 

Which is why he finds himself sprawled out on the ground, having been thrown into a tree by an Ursa right after having slashed at another one, completely dazed and vulnerable and too slow to even raise his shield as an Ursa’s claws bear down on him.

 

Ruby sees this, and she _screams._

 

oOoOo

 

Jaune finds himself staring at the rapidly approaching claws of imminent death, and instead of freaking out he distantly wishes that Pyrrha were there with him. They’ve always fought as a team, after all, and he knows that if she were there, a bronze shield would already be rebounding against the monster’s head, distracting it long enough for him to find his bearings and stab it. 

 

Pyrrha’s not here, though, so it ends up that Jaune might be joining her sooner than he actually wants to. There’s a certain kind of irony there, one that he wonders if he should unpack for his own safety at a later date. _If_ there is a later date.  

 

Then that thought is shattered by a desperate scream, as Ruby’s voice echoes with eerie power and his name is made into light.

 

Jaune has just enough time to glance to his right, to see white brilliance spill from Ruby’s eyes in the form of angel wings, then the world burns silver. After that, all he can think to do is blink away afterimages and prop himself up on his elbows so that he can stare at the still battlefield. 

 

Statues everywhere, of masked beasts frozen mid-attack, dissolving in a gentle breeze. Ren, face carefully blank as he tries to process _what just happened._ Nora, with her jaw dropped and her eyes wide and Magnhild’s head in a small crater where the grip holding it upright went limp with shock.

 

Ruby, collapsed on the ground and about as conscious as a brick, with Crescent Rose held loosely in limp arms and cloak spilled in a crimson stain on the white snow behind her. 

 

Silence holds for exactly three heartbeats, then Nora breaks it by asking in a slight squeak, “Did… did anyone know she could do that?”

 

Almost automatically, Ren answers, “I don’t believe so, no.”

 

The field is clear now, with the only traces of battle being those made by weapons, teeth, and claws. Wind rustles through tree leaves and snow crunches under Jaune’s sneakers as he stumbles his way upright and wobbles over to Ruby, where Nora and Ren have already converged. It’s almost peaceful, ignoring the cold sogginess of legs and butt and back, the completely ravaged snowbanks, and the unconscious teammate.

 

Jaune doesn’t really want to ignore her, though, any more than he wants to stay here. 

 

So, as he struggles to lift Ruby in his now shaky arms, he says, “We should probably get moving, find a place to set up camp…”

 

He gets her maybe a foot in the air before he feels her slip. Fortunately, Nora is there to catch her before she can actually fall, and from there is further able to effortlessly settle Ruby over her shoulder. She balances on one foot as she uses the other to nudge Crescent Rose over to Ren, who fumbles with the heavy scythe as he tries to figure out how to collapse it. 

 

Jaune envies Nora’s strength sometimes. 

 

But really, that’s not what matters now. Now, the three (relatively) conscious teammates are more interested in skedaddling off to a new campsite, where they can all rest and wait for member number four to wake up. 

 

(And also, for answers, because _what.)_

 

oOoOo

 

Ruby is deceptively heavy, considering just how _small_ she is. Not that she’s particularly difficult for Nora to carry, aside from being kind of awkward to hold just by virtue of being human sized and pretty much dead weight for the moment, but still.

 

Then again, Nora is being a little bit of a black pot right now, considering that she was the smallest of the team before Ruby joined. 

 

It makes more sense, when she’s in motion. When Ruby twirls her scythe like its easier than breathing, when she slices monsters in half with a single swing, it’s easier to see that she’s taut muscle and explosive force packed into the frame of a tiny girl - that she’d have more weight to her than can first be seen. 

 

In the end, there’s a lot about Ruby that’s hidden like that. It’s strange, considering just how honest she is, but…

 

Ruby’s always been special - it’s really not that hard to guess when she’s at the top tier of the school _as a scythe user_ at two years younger than all of her classmates, but normally she’s just their friend, Ruby. She’s excitable and a little awkward and good in a fight, but none of that really screams ‘legendary’, even if she is skilled enough to decapitate a Nevermore with a newly formed team. 

 

Ruby’s always been special, but this is the first time it makes her seem so small. Which is kind of weird considering how she’s faced down giant demon birds armed with only a sword in the past, but then again that time she’d been conscious.

 

She’s not supposed to feel _small_. Ruby is so much larger when she’s awake - scythe planted in the ground as she directs warriors to a fight, eyes glinting like steel as she says _I’ll find them, and I’ll bring them back -_ that it’s easy to forget how _young_ she is as well. 

 

She’s only fifteen, and she’s stood tall against monsters, jumped out of planes to hijack airships, fought as one of the last warriors running in the Battle of Beacon, and apparently froze a giant dragon Grimm to the top of their school. That makes her special.

 

Pyrrha was special, too, except that led to mysterious secrets and hidden vaults and her death at the hands of a madwoman at the top of the school. 

 

It's this thought that has Nora hovering close to Ren, because he is safety and comfort and a watchful eye that flits over even the crows in the trees when Ruby is vulnerable and Nora’s not in a position to fight. She knows that she’s physically stronger than Ren, but she also knows that strength can be so much more.

 

(But then, Pyrrha had been strong in body and mind and heart, their invincible girl, always there until she wasn't and a desperate scream and unnerving white light drowned the world, washed away the ashes of the old one burning and brought in something completely different.)

 

That doesn’t matter, though, not now. It still hurts (it’ll always hurt) but right now Jaune is waking half a step ahead looking for a clearing, Ruby’s heart is beating against her shoulder, Ren is stumbling slightly under the weight of Crescent Rose, and they’re all okay.

 

Maybe Pyrrha’s gone, maybe Jaune is heartbroken and Ruby is still thrumming with the remnants of mysterious powers, but Ren is still here. He’s still comforting green at the corner of her eye, calm pink aura brushing against her own pink electricity, the cornerstone of her family just as she’s the cornerstone of his. 

 

Things aren’t perfect - they can’t be, not when her found family is all mixed up and misplaced and rose-red is where flame-red should be because black and white and yellow aren’t where _they’re_ supposed to be, but for now at least, _they’re all okay._

 

oOoOo

 

Ren knows when Ruby wakes up because that’s when Nora explodes into, “RUBY YOU’RE AWAKE! We were so worried about you! Well, not _worried_ worried, because you were here and clearly alive and everything, but you know, worried because you were unconscious, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so still before except for that one time at school and all. You seem so much smaller when you’re unconscious, you should really try to avoid that in the future and anyways what was that light earlier that was _amazing_ did you know you could do that?”

 

She says all of that without even breathing, let alone giving Ruby a chance to reply. And, while Ren likes to see that Nora is at least starting to bounce back from everything that’s happened the past few months, he’s also guessing that Ruby is entirely overwhelmed, if her wide, baffled eyes are any indication. 

 

So, Ren sighs and grabs Nora’s shirt collar, saying “Nora, you should probably give Ruby some space to breathe.”

 

Nora struggles halfheartedly in his grip, more out of habit than any real desire to escape. After a few seconds, she goes comically limp like she's given up for the moment, so Ren figures that it's safe to let her go. It ends up slightly preemptive, since Nora darts right back in to wrap Ruby up in a hug, and Ren is reminded that Nora can actually be tricky if she deems it necessary enough. And well, he could technically try to move her again, but even this hug is fairly gentle as far as a Nora hug goes (Ruby lets out a graceless ‘ulp’ of surprise but doesn’t turn blue), so he lets it slide.

 

At the very least Ruby doesn’t seem to mind, though that might be because she’s still shaking off the last vestiges of sleep. Ren is ultimately inclined to think otherwise though, when she smiles and murmurs, “Hey, Nora, Ren. Glad to see you too.”

 

After that, she jolts, accidentally dislodging Nora in the process. Twisting to turn her wide, frantic eyes to Ren, she asks, “Wait, where’s Jaune?!”

 

Jaune, as it happens, is walking up to the group, behind Ruby and therefore out of her line of sight. Ren gestures silently in his direction as he approaches and answers, “I’m right here, Ruby, thanks to you.” 

 

Ruby puts a hand to her heart and whispers _thank goodness_ with her eyes closed. Then she frowns and looks up again, asking, “…Thanks to me?”

 

That’s… strange. The kind of power that she displayed is hardly _forgettable,_ after all, though the way her gaze flits around nervously hints at her being _wary_ rather than confused anyways. Ren is a watcher and a listener though, quiet on the sidelines until he has something to contribute, so he stays silent as Jaune frowns.

 

And, since no one else speaks, the silence lengthens. Ruby fidgets, twisting her hands in her black skirt, until Jaune finally says, “Don’t you remember? You made all the Grimm disappear…”

 

Ruby jumps at his voice, then stammers, “O-oh?” before she turns her eyes to the hands folded in her lap and murmurs, “It happened again…”

 

Ruby’s never demonstrated that kind of power before, though. No one has, not that Ren knows of, except in the lines of fairytales and legends. 

 

…Except there was a time, months before, when silver light filled his vision and echoing screams filled his ears. Months before, the world changed when a dragon was frozen to the top of Beacon Tower and the school was destroyed and their team was permanently broken. That time, after the dust settled, Ruby was returned to them in an unconscious heap, cradled protectively in the arms of a scruffy, lanky man caped in tattered red and trailed by Jaune and Weiss. 

 

The only sound out of their group had been the stranger’s soft murmurs that _everything is going to be alright, kiddo, you’re going to be fine,_ before he looked up to see…

 

Well, Ren doesn’t know what he saw. Himself and Nora, literally unable to stand, yes. Blake bleeding all over the hand at her side as she held Yang with the other, and Yang barely conscious missing half of an arm, definitely. He doesn't know what this meant to the man, though - except that it meant _something_ , because he had looked at Yang and Blake with heartbreak in his eyes, at him and Nora and Jaune with deep regret written into his frown.

 

The stranger sat with them to wait for the last ship leaving, and Weiss only had the chance to explain that _he’s Ruby’s and Yang’s uncle_ before being whisked away, by her father, like a snowflake on the wind. 

 

Afterwards, no one had been willing to speak, not even to ask questions. Ren still isn’t sure what happened that night, since Jaune couldn’t explain more than the fact that Pyrrha had gone to the top of the tower to fight a terrifying woman and Ruby’s uncle only gave them enough time to say goodbye before whisking his two nieces off to Patch. 

 

All he truly knows of that night is that Pyrrha died and the dragon isn’t an active threat, though it still draws in Grimm. 

 

He can guess, though, as to some things that happened. Without the details, he can guess that Jaune and Pyrrha were separated, almost certainly by force, and that Jaune was more concerned about Pyrrha to the end. He’d have called Ruby for help, except her scroll went missing before the assault even started, so he’d call Weiss next. If it was prudent, Ruby and Weiss would have split up to cover more ground, Ruby going high because she can scale vertical planes with Weiss’s glyphs. After that, Weiss would have found Jaune and tried to meet up with Ruby again, except…

 

Something else happened. A faint scream, silver light, defeated Grimm. Ruby had been brought back to them unconscious then, just as she had fallen unconscious only hours ago, after a scream and blinding light and defeated Grimm.

 

Ren glances at Nora and Jaune, to see what they might make of this, but they seem to be lost in their own thoughts. Ruby had spoken quietly enough that they might not have heard, and he could simply be jumping to baseless conclusions, but…

 

Well, they have to know. If he pretends that he didn’t hear anything, then they won’t have the chance to figure out what to do about her power, when it would be prudent to try. Plus, if he’s correct, then Ruby has been living under the weight of a heartbreaking memory for _months,_ all by herself and either unwilling to or afraid to share. 

 

She doesn’t deserve that kind of pain. 

 

So, after it’s clear that no one else will be speaking, Ren kneels down on the ground in front of her, acutely aware of how young she is as he ventures gently, “…Again?”

 

Ruby flinches at his quiet voice. Her gaze shifts as it lands on everything except for the three of them, and though none of them make a sound, tension and words not quite said still hang thick in the cool air. Finally, after several moments pass, she nods. 

 

“Y-yeah,” she murmurs, “I guess I did something similar when… when Beacon was attacked. I don’t really remember, but my dad and my uncle said that I froze the dragon after… after…”

 

Ruby chokes off abruptly, blinking as if she’s startled by the tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Ren can’t really blame her - so much happened that night, it’s almost impossible to believe that it had only been a few hours of battle at most. 

 

Jaune’s voice is little more than a breath on the wind as he finishes, “After Pyrrha…”

 

Ruby nods, silently. She’s biting her lip in a futile attempt to stop it from trembling, and Ren isn’t entirely certain that she even realizes that she’s crying as she echoes, “Yeah, after Pyrrha…”

 

A thin keen slips from her throat, short and quivering. Ruby pulls her knees up and ducks her face into her black leggings, muffling the fact that she’s replied, “Guys… I’m so sorry I didn’t get there in time…”

 

Ren almost doesn’t hear her, with how softly she’d spoken. He might have thought that he’d imagined it, if Jaune hadn’t moved to sit next to Ruby.

 

He rests his arm on her shoulders, pulling her into a one-armed hug and murmuring, “Remember that time in the arena, when Pyrrha said she was sorry? You said you were, too, but it wasn’t her fault, right?”

 

Pausing until Ruby, still not looking up, nods, he continues, “Well, the same applies here. Nothing that happened was your fault. It was that woman’s fault, and hers alone.”

 

This proclamation is met with silence. For a moment, Ren wonders if Ruby even heard what he said, when she finally says, “…Cinder.”

 

Jaune frowns. “What?”

 

“It was Cinder. The woman who… who killed Penny, and Pyrrha. Emerald and Mercury’s teammate.”

 

Ruby chokes on the names, like they taste of bitter ashes and regret. It’s only a few words filled with anguish, spoken in a trembling voice, and Ren has to marvel at the strength it takes to say them out loud. It hurts, just _hearing_ that pain, knowing that it’s the same guilt they all bear for being unable to make a difference with Pyrrha, illogical though it may be.

 

Curling further into herself, Ruby moans, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know who they… who _she_ was until it was too late…”

 

If she means to continue, then she’s the only one who’ll ever know, since Nora latches onto her unoccupied side in her typical Nora way. She wraps her arms around Ruby’s waist and says with absolute conviction, “Hey, Jaune already said it wasn’t your fault, so there’s no need to feel _guilty_ or anything!”

 

Ren happens to agree with his two original teammates, actually. After only knowing her for one and a half years, it’s blindingly obvious that Ruby puts everything she has into everything she truly wants to do - and there’s not a doubt in his mind that she would have wanted to save Pyrrha. So, the simple fact that Pyrrha’s not here means that Ruby couldn’t save her, and none of them can fault her for that, not when it’s _Ruby,_ and especially not when this was an enemy that even Pyrrha couldn’t beat.

 

Still, Ruby herself might not be getting this. She can be oblivious at the best of times, after all, so Ren, still kneeling in front of her, adds, “It’s as they said. You did what you could, and now we’re doing all that we can to stop them.”

 

Ren moves instinctively to set a hand on her shoulder, only to realize that Jaune still has both of them accounted for. His hand hover somewhat awkwardly in the air until he finally rests it on her knee and adds, “Ruby… we’re _your_ friends, too. It’s sad that she’s… gone now, but none of us blame you, any more than she would. And I know she’d want you to know that, just like she’d want you to keep fighting.”

 

For him, for Nora, for Jaune, this is so obvious that it doesn’t even need to be said. But, if the same does not apply to Ruby, then Ren is fully willing to put it into words, no matter how strange it might feel to say something that redundant. 

 

Even that unease is completely worth it in the end, because Ruby finally, tentatively smiles, “Thank you, you guys.”

 

The silence that falls over the group is different now, soft serenity instead of thick tension. It’s peaceful, and when fluttering crow wings touch the quiet, it’s the sigh that relaxes tense muscles rather than one that adds weariness. 

 

Nevertheless, it rouses Ruby out of the stillness, and she shifts her weight ever so slightly. It’s enough of a signal to pull away, and they find themselves sitting in a loose circle in short order. 

 

Ruby takes a deep breath to begin explaining before she pauses. Her expression settles into a confused frown and after a long silence, she finally admits, "I... don't actually know how to start."

 

It's so incongruous that Ren can't help but burst out into laughter. As he finally manages to regain control over, he says, "No worries, we still have plenty of time."

 


End file.
